Seriously

I am not kidding, this movie opened up in Yiddish with English subtitles. I almost couldn't take another subtitled film, but I persevered in the name of my Oscar Challenge and eventually discovered that the film was in English.

Lovers of movies with a plot will not like this one. It's really just a message or a lesson on film. I knew the key was to parallel the dad's experiences with the son's, but I missed a key message from the third Rabbi and only put the final pieces together after watching the "Making the Movie" bonus feature on the DVD. I was grateful to be reminded, however, that the answers we seek in life are as simple as the Rabbi's message and if we aren't paying attention- we miss them.

Once I understood all of the elements that were in play I loved the way this story unfolded. Michael Stuhlbarg was brilliant at portraying a frazzled Larry Gopnik who just could not take one more misfortune or uncomfortable circumstance, and just wanted to know 'why.' "I don't want it to just go away! I want an answer!"

My favorite part of the film was how it faded out after giving visual representations of the cliché thought that none of the things we take so seriously in life matter for a moment in the face of something graver. And it takes you back to the quote that opens the film- a quote from the medieval French rabbi Rashi- "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."